Cotton Bowl, Pop-Tarts Bowl draw massive television audience
College football bowl games have been forced to get creative over the years with different ways to bring in eyeballs to tune into their broadcast. There’s been different variations of food mascots involved in bowl games, Cheez-Its (Prince Cheddward) and mayonnaise (Tubby).
One of the more popular mascots to come along in recent memory made its debut this year in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Kellogg’s unveiled a giant pop tart dressed up in a costume. And college football fans simply couldn’t get enough.
It was a smashing success, with the game bringing in 4.3 million viewers on ESPN, one of the largest audiences of any bowl game so far, according to Front Office Sports. Then on Friday night, the Missouri Tigers won 14-3 over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. That game reeled in an average of 9.6 million viewers, according to ESPN.
The giant Pop-Tart in the bowl game went through the toaster, and came out of it, ready to be eaten by the coaches and players for Kansas State.
Earlier in the game, the mascot slapped the referee’s butt in the middle of the game.
The game was entertaining as well, with Kansas State coming away with a 28-19 win in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Wolfpack quarterback Brennan Armstrong rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown, but threw an interception at the end of the game to seal it.
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The Cotton Bowl was more of a defensive battle between Ohio State and Missouri. The Tigers couldn’t get anything going on offense until the fourth quarter, when they scored all 14 of their points. Brady Cook connected with Marquis Johnson on a 50-yard strike, the biggest play of the game. That helped to put Missouri in the red zone, and they took care of business and finished it off a few plays later.
Tigers’ running back Cody Schrader was the MVP of the 2023 Cotton Bowl, running for 128 yards and one touchdown. He figures to be a top selection in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft. It’ll certainly be interesting to see where he ends up. After 13 games, he finished with 1,627 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. He currently leads the nation with 125 rushing yards.
Ohio State had to use backup quarterback Devin Brown, since Kyle McCord opted to not play in the game after hitting the transfer portal. Brown eventually got injured and third stringer Lincoln Kienholz was forced into action. He made some nice throws, but clearly has some work/development ahead of him. The Buckeyes offense struggled to get anything going, only managing 106 passing yards on the night.